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Decasia Review

Constructed from decayed archival footage and set to a symphonic score, this is apparently "a meditation on the human quest to transcend physicality". Hey, who knew?

★★★★★

Composed of corroded strips of monochrome nitrate film, Bill Morrison's avant-garde collage is not merely a study of material decay, it's also a metaphor for the transience of life and the impermanence of memory.

A melancholic air lingers over the shifting shapes  some of which are barely decipherable, while others provide teasing records of long-forgotten significance  as the endeavours and achievements of those depicted are reduced to abstract patterns devoid of meaning.

Michael Gordon's score often proves counter-productive, but this remains a mesmerising and moving journey through cinema's eroding past.